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BenQ SW271 monitor offers perfect color and resolution

If I told you that it wasn’t until this past year that I purchased my first real desktop monitor would you judge me? Probably, but I am OK with that and here’s why. I love a good laptop. I work incredibly fast on laptops and love that it is ultracompact and portable — two things this working mom needs the most. I can’t even count the number of times I finished editing a session at dance class, carpool pickup or at swimming lessons.

I was constantly working on-the-go and it was super convenient for me — I had the perfect little system going. Until the dreaded day when my laptop decided it wanted to die. I realized I had nothing to work on as a backup. I know I can’t be the only one who has felt that pain and cried for a good solid hour while eating Nutella straight from the jar and just staring hoping it would come back to life.

I am going to just briefly focus on a few of the main reasons I am obsessed with this monitor and I’ll never go back. The biggest reason I am loving having a desktop is because I actually think I have gotten more done in a more consistent manner. Having a laptop made me feel like I could just finish everything later and sometimes really drag projects out. Now I am forced to go downstairs in my unfinished basement and power through everything without all the other distractions. Not to mention the “mom shaming” people gave me or I gave myself has lessened tremendously and I call that a win in my book.

Features I love

Why do I love this monitor so much? First, the built quality is amazing. It’s made out of metal and high-quality plastic. The base and stand are very heavy and sturdy which is another great mom love — I don’t have to worry about my kids bumping my desk and knocking this thing over.

The screen can be tilted up and down, swivel left or right as well as you can adjust the height of the monitor. And to really knock your socks off you can rotate your screen 90 degrees clockwise so you can work in portrait mode.

The monitor also comes with a detachable shade and hood which helps eliminate ambient light from affecting your monitor screen which is fantastic. This monitor has 99% Adobe RGB color coverage, which is really important for me because in my retouching workflow I like to retouch all my images in Adobe RGB color. It allows me to be able to play with a wider color gamut, giving me more colors to work with. Having a monitor that can produce and see all those colors is really helpful and a great addition to my editing process.

This monitor is also constant HDR, which means I am able to enjoy watching webinars and training videos in that high dynamic range when streaming. But it also allows me to see things as I would in real life with my own eyes when editing.

The BenQ SW217 is also Technicolor Color Certified meaning it has the same standard for color accuracy the big time names are using in Hollywood and that’s what I am shooting for.

Conclusion

To be honest I never would have looked into this monitor initially. With a price point of $1089 it was just too far out of my budget. However, now that I have seen the differences a high-quality monitor makes when editing, there is no way I would go back. In fact, I ordered myself one because when there is a will, there is a way.

This monitor is absolutely fantastic! If you want a good quality monitor with a great color reproduction that is Technicolor Certified, has a wide color gamut and a 10-bit display, I would highly recommend this to you. But if the price is holding you back, check out the other monitors BenQ offers. I promise your eyes will thank you.

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Erin Holmstead is a beauty and commercial portrait photographer, engaged member and organizer of the Cache Valley Photographers, and is crazy about fashion and beauty photography. She makes pictures with people her primary study (especially her kids), but she is excited to learn and share all kinds of photographic techniques.

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